It is known that acute infections of the bronchial system differ fundamentally from chronic bronchitis. The cause of chronic bronchitis is not yet sufficiently clarified. For this reason, the World Health Organization defines chronic bronchitis as a disease that progresses at least over a period of two years with coughing and expectoration throughout at least three months of this period and on most days of the week.
Three forms can be differentiated from each other in the course of the disease. First there is an increased production in the bronchial system with productive coughing, then recurrent bacterial super-infections often ensue and finally flow impediments develope in the bronchi and bronchioles resulting in a chronic-obstructive bronchitis.
Pre-examinations have shown that a rise of the tissue histamine can be observed in inflammatory changes of the tracheobronchial system.
The possibilities of medicinal intervention in the histamine metabolism are manifold:
(a) For one, they exist with the known H.sub.1 and H.sub.2 receptor antagonists, which, howerver, as recognized, were not very successful in the treatment of acute or chronic lung diseases, specifically also of Asthma bronchiale (Ulmer et al., Reinhardt, Reinmann et al., 1982).
(b) Secondly, administering mast-cell membrane stabilizers that have found their permanent place in asthma therapy (Altunyan, 1981, Cox, Davis, Pepys et al., 1981).
(c) Thirdly, by intervention in the construction of histamine by blocking the conversion of histidine into histamine. The long-term administration of histidine decarboxylase blockers leads to a decrease of the tissue histamine also by test persons with healthy lungs (Reimann et al., 1982).
In the past various pharmaceutical compositions that intervene in the histamine metabolism were applied in the treatment of acute infections. Thereby, however, it was shown that blocking the histamine at the receptor does not lead to success.